Week 11 Marquee & Picks

Greg Voutsos (.520 SLG%, 12 RBI)
Many teams are taking off the holiday week to celebrate America’s 238th birthday, but we do have some games in store for Week 11. The only really intriguing matchup, which features two potential playoffs teams currently tied in the standings, is between the Flying Squirrels and Westside Warriors. This will be the Squirrels second to last series, as they close out the regular season next week at the Wicked Aces. The Warriors as usual, play four games this week, then won’t play until Week 14 with their home and home series vs. the Onanism. The Warriors also host the Islanders this week.

Both teams are coming off a Week 10 they probably want to forget about. The Squirrels came into Week 10 as the #3 seed, but now enter Week 11 tied with King Friday and the Warriors who are all two games over .500. The Squirrels played King Friday tough, but dropped both games 1-0 as their team was only able to muster up one hit in the two games combined. The Warriors started Week 10 by playing the Week 8 makeup games at the Islanders and took both games. They then dropped four in a row against the Aces and Belgian.

The biggest question mark concerning this series is finding a time to play, and finding players who can play. The rumor circulating around is they may not play until Monday or Tuesday, as weekend availability is in question. No matter when they play, the Warriors won’t have Sam Hatt or Evan Bortmas, so Shore will need his role players to step up in a big way. He also needs Greg Voutsos to play in at least three out of their last eight games, or the Warriors will be ineligible for postseason play. The Squirrels don’t have to worry about any of their guys getting to seven games, but who they are bringing to this series is unknown. If Sessions is able to get pitchers Kevin Doby or Brandon D’Agnese, he has to feel good about his chances. If he is able to get both of them they will be heavy favorites to sweep.

So, there you have it. Two teams who are fighting to play in the ‘All or Nothing,’ ‘Do or Die’, ‘ Win or Go Home’ play-in game. This is what the league wanted when they changed the playoff format, and they are getting exactly what they hoped for. Now let’s just hope they find a time to play…